EPA News: EPA awards $4.8 million to Pennsylvania to control polluted runoff, restore water quality

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EPA awards $4.8 million to Pennsylvania to control polluted runoff, restore water quality

PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 24, 2020) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a $4,846,500 grant to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to improve water quality in rivers and streams throughout the commonwealth.

The grant is part of EPA’s Nonpoint Source Implementation Grant Program, as outlined in Section 319 of the Clean Water Act to control water pollution.

 “This grant supports preserving and protecting Pennsylvania’s water resources and ensuring communities have clean water,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “By working in partnership with Pennsylvania, we can help implement necessary best management practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution in communities throughout the commonwealth.”

Nonpoint source pollution is caused when rainfall or snowmelt, moving over and through the ground, picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants, depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and groundwater.

Controlling nonpoint source pollution is especially important since one in three Americans get their drinking water from public systems that rely on seasonal and rain-dependent streams.

While the program provides statewide coverage, this funding will help Pennsylvania focus on priority watersheds with water quality impairments. The major sources of nonpoint source pollution in the state, including abandoned mine drainage, agriculture, and urban stormwater runoff, will be addressed through structural and non-structural best management practices, as well as through watershed planning, monitoring, and education/outreach programs and activities.

Learn more about successful nonpoint source reduction projects at: https://www.epa.gov/nps

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